Top Payroll Providers for Medium to Large Businesses

Payroll providers are a helpful and efficient way to manage the payment of wages, taxes and other documentation. As this can be a complex set of tasks, for larger businesses in particular, a professional payroll provider can offer great benefits.

Benefits of a Payroll Provider

There are several benefits that can be obtained by using a specialist in this field. While some small companies with small workforces can manage their payrolls and tax payments without the need for professional help, the larger the workforce and complexity of the business, the more pressing the need to employ a professional can be.

The main benefits include:

Experience in the Field

Time Efficiency

Payment Confidence

Potential Savings

Lower Employee Turnover

Improved Security

Experience in the Field

The chances are, unless you are a financial enterprise with experience in the field, you are not sure about the complexities regarding the structuring of payments for wages and taxes. Knowing the process inside and out requires profound knowledge and is therefore better outsourced.

Time Efficiency

Even if you have a handle on the various areas that are provided by payroll services, the amount of time this takes up can drain manpower and deflect the focus of your business away from other essential tasks.

Large businesses are particularly vulnerable to wasted man hours being spent on jobs that are not suited to their workforce. This kind of inefficiency can lead to lost opportunities and a lack of focus on the parts of the business that require the most attention.

Payment Confidence

One of the most important benefits that a payroll service can provide is the ability to make sure all payments are sent out on time. This can be important in two areas. Firstly it is vital for the happiness of your employees that they are paid on time. Not only does this help keep morale and effectiveness of the business at a high level, it also makes for a more efficient business, as payments do not require further attention.

The other important area is in the paying of taxes. Late payment or missed payments can be extremely costly to a business so it pays to make sure you have this area looked after by a professional.

Potential Savings

Time is often compared to money in the running of a business and this is one of the main advantages in hiring a payroll provider. Although the service can be expensive for large businesses, the benefits often far outweigh the costs. This should always be factored in when deciding whether payroll services are a cost-efficient option for your business.

Lower Employee Turnover

It can take some time for an in house payroll employee to learn the ins and outs of your business but there is nothing to prevent them from wanting to leave and taking all that time invested in their training with them. By outsourcing the task you are preventing these kinds of issues from occurring in the future and providing your business with a steady hand over all relevant undertakings.

Improved Security

Although it is important to make sure you are employing the services of a well-established and trustworthy provider, it is a much safer method than using an individual employee. What’s more, the security software employed by payroll providers is typically of the highest quality as security is at the core of the service. This kind of peace of mind is one of the most popular reasons large and small businesses employ payroll providers.

Payroll Providers

It is highly important that you properly research a company before employing their services and handing over sensitive information. While there are many trustworthy payroll providers, not all are as well managed as they should be. Some of the most highly regarded include:

ADP UK

Payplus

IRIS

Sage

Ceridian

ADP UK

One of the fastest growing payroll providers in the UK, ADP services benefit 31m people worldwide. Established in 1965 they are a trusted and well organised provider with a highly flexible facility that can suit the largest and smallest of UK businesses.

Payplus

With over 30 years experience, Payplus provide services to individuals and large corporate entities alike. Offering support and peace of mind to their customers, Payplus also provide two guaranteed security methods, the Managed Service and the Bureau Service, both of which are suitable for dealing with HMRC.

IRIS

Another highly qualified payroll company are IRIS, who have over 35 years in the field. IRIS are one of the most highly regarded in the industry with 50% of all accountancy firms in the UK employing their expertise. IRIS are particularly well versed in dealing with tax returns, making them an ideal choice for businesses with complex tax requirements.

Sage

Recognised by HMRC, Sage offer services as small as individual contracts and sizeable appointments associated with large multinationals. While they are a well established company, they are not so rigid as to not offer flexible solutions to a vast array of payroll issues that each individual or company may present them with. It is this adaptability that has led to them being one of the most popular providers in the UK.

Ceridian

The two main selling points of Ceridian are the 50 years experience in the field and a highly accurate record of processing payments, 99.93%, making them an industry leader. This is exceptionally impressive as they also deal with some of the largest and most complex businesses in the country.

Alternatives

Outsourcing your payroll needs is not the best option for all businesses and there are other options available. Most small companies might be able to deal with their needs in-house but this can be difficult for large enterprises. Unless you can afford to employ a department that can specialise in your business’s finances, you should think carefully before dismissing the idea of outsourcing your payroll needs.

Keeping your finances in house can lead to better access to your finances and is usually cheaper in the short term. What’s more, even the most thorough payroll service cannot provide 100% of your financing requirements.

In recent years a hybrid of the two methods, in house and outsourcing, has become increasingly popular. While it has always been the case that flexibility is vital to providing a quality service, this development has led to it being a vital component of any payroll provider.